The UN Security Council renewed for two months on Tuesday its political mission in East Timor while UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan considers adding security personnel to the UN operation.
In a resolution adopted unanimously, the 15-member council requested Annan to provide by August 7 a report on a "strengthened presence" of the world body in the western Pacific country.
The young nation was plunged into violence in May after Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri dismissed 600 of the 1,400-strong army for mutiny when they protested over alleged discrimination against soldiers from the west of the country.
Since then, rebel troops and thousands of protesters have called for Alkatiri's removal, blaming him for the violence that has seen youth gangs fighting, looting and burning buildings in Dili, the capital.
A 2,700-strong Australian-led peacekeeping force now patrols the capital but the United Nations is contemplating sending police and possibly troops to East Timor.
The UN Security Council shut down its peacekeeping force last month, leaving a small political mission in the country.
Annan last week said he was sending an assessment mission to East Timor for a possible return of UN peacekeepers but said any new mission would need months to set up.
But US Ambassador John Bolton questioned UN peacekeepers returning to East Timor, telling reporters on Monday that the latest turmoil was unrelated to East Timor's independence from Indonesia in 2000 that prompted the original UN troop and police presence. The United States voted, however, in favour of the resolution asking Annan to plan for a larger operation.
The United Nations in 2000 sent some 7,500 peacekeepers to East Timor that replaced a previous Australian-led force, which quelled violence by Jakarta's troops and allied militia. In Tuesday's resolution, the Security Council expressed "deep concern over the volatile security situation" and condemned "continuing acts of violence against people and destruction of property."
A former Portuguese colony, East Timor, some 1,300 miles (2,100 km) east of Jakarta, was occupied by Indonesia at the end of 1975. It became independent in 2002 after being run by the United Nations for two-and-half years following an independence referendum in August 1999.